FUN TRIAL RULES

1. Safety First: all participants in the field will wear hunter orange. Common firearm safety practices are employed.
2. Gunners will have chambers empty and open and shells in the magazine (pumps, bolt-action, and autos) or shells in the chamber but gun broke (over/unders and doubles) until a find is called, no running in the field, and safety can be called by the gunner, handler, or the judge.
3. Once a safety is called no shots are to be fired for that find.
4. Do not work the edge of a field with your dog that is being used for a fun trial.
5. Keep children under direct adult supervision.
6. Exercise your dog away from the active bird field.. Remember to pick up after your dog.
7. Participants should have fun – fun trials are held to promote better dog work.
8. NSTRA rules for running trials and braces are generally followed except as noted.
9. Braces are 20 minutes long.
10. Participants should enjoy themselves, and use the event to their best advantage.
11. 5 birds are planted in the first brace, with 4 birds per brace afterwards.
12. Judges should carry a quail with them. If no finds are made after 15 minutes, a bird can be planted for the dog and the handler can lead the dog to the bird for practice. If a trial is short on birds this practice will be suspended by the Chairman.
13. NSTRA guidelines for assessing dog work are generally followed.
14. Cost is $30 per run except when grounds need to be rented or birds other than quail are used.
15. Trial fees must be paid prior to a run.
16. If a handler must cancel after fees are paid, prior to the run, fees are forfeited. However, the Chairperson has the discretion to reimburse the handler if another paying handler can be found.
17. All training aids are allowed in the field including leads, e-collars, bells, and others.
18. If your dog picks a fight you need to remove it from the field immediately.
19. If you pick a fight with your dog you will be removed from the field immediately (no kicking, hitting, biting, throwing, or other excessive use of force).
20. Enjoy yourself – this is a fun event.
21. All dogs can run in the fun event.
22. Be courteous to your brace mate. If a dog is out of control and interferes constantly with a brace mate or runs into a NSTRA field the judge or Chairman can direct you to pick the dog up and remove it from the field. Failure to comply may jeopardize your ability to enter future events.
23. Braces are not drawn randomly as in NSTRA – the chairman sets up dogs of nearly equivalent ability in braces whenever possible. 24. Members cannot ask for a specific brace time, or the first or last brace of the trial. Chairman should however accommodate run times as much as possible by pooling requests into morning or afternoon sessions.
25. When fun trials are held concurrently with NSTRA trials the Chairman will coordinate with the NSTRA chair to ensure a handler does not have a conflict with their NSTRA runs, which are drawn randomly and have precedence.
26. A dog’s first run of the day is used for possible placement (if eligible). Subsequent runs are encouraged and provide excellent training opportunities.
27. The Chairman has the final say on brace pairings and run times.
28. Do not put your canine companion in a position to fail or do poor dog work.
29. If your dog does not back, do not handle it into another dog that is on a find.
30. If your dog does back, you must hold the dog by the collar for two minutes while the other dog work is going on. After two minutes you can lead your dog away and start handling again.
31. Fees cannot be reimbursed should a dog be disqualified (DQ’d) by the handler, judge, or chairperson during a brace.
32. Wild-flushed birds that stay in the field are marked birds. Both parties must be aware of the bird and wait 2 minutes before a dog can be worked in on it.
33. Birds that flush after having been pointed but remain in the field are scored-on birds and cannot be used for another find. If possible, take the bird out of play.
34. When a find is established at end of the 20 minute brace and time runs out, an extra 3 minutes will be allowed to finish the piece of work. If the dog moves or is relocated the brace is ended.
35. Dogs that have placed in NSTRA or a broke dog stake (AKC, CKC) are not eligible for fun trial placement.
36. Fun trial dog-of-the-year winners are no longer eligible for fun trial placement.
37. All other dogs of any age are eligible for fun trial placements.
38. Dogs up to 30 months old are eligible for the derby award.
39. Fun trials should be used to promote good dog work.
40. Fun trial dog of the year winners will be selected using a point system, with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and derby placements earning 4, 3, 2, and 1 points respectively for each trial.

Be safe and have fun!